The next morning
Anshul's POV
I was sleeping quietly, with Mira by my side.
As I slept, I felt a mon nuzzling into me for pretty much the entire night.
I didn't mind this, and enjoyed this feeling.
A long time later, the nuzzles stopped, and instead, I felt a paw pawing at my shoulder.
This slowly caused me to wake up, as I wondered what this was.
My eye opened, and I saw Mira energetically pawing at my shoulder.
I then looked at her, and tilted my head at her.
"Good morning Mira." I greeted Mira.
Mira was smiling brightly, as if excited about something.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" I asked.
"I want t-to show you something." Mira said, and grabbed my paw.
She then tried to pull me up, to lead me to what she wanted to show me.
"Woa, easy there Mira." I said, as I slowly got to my paws.
"H-Hurry Anshul!" Mira said, and padded toward the entrance of the cave.
I wondered what had her so excited, but when she told me to hurry, I got up and padded toward her pretty fast.
When I reached the cave entrance, I was surprised to see the outside completely covered in a blanket of snow.
Mira smiled brightly at me, and stood on her toes, as she was excited about the snow outside.
"C-Come! L-Lets go into the snow!" Mira said, and then rushed out of the cave.
"W-Wait Mira! W-We haven't had breakfast yet!" I said.
Mira didn't listen, and took a leap into the air.
She then dived head first into the snow, which she buried into the blanket of snow with her upper body.
This made me laugh from how funny it looked from where I stood.
Mira pulled her upper body out of the snow, and turned to look at me.
She had some snow on the top of her head, which made me chuckle.
Her tail wagged, when she saw me chuckling.
She then got low again, and shook her hind body, like she was getting ready to pounce.
Mira then leaped into the air again, and dived face first into the snow again.
I chuckled at how adorable she was.
Instead of pulling herself back out of the snow, she instead dug through the snow, and went underneath the snow blanket.
There was a dig trail in the snow, where Mira moved.
The dig trail went toward me, and when it was close to me, Mira's head popped out of the snow with a bright smile.
I blushed at this, as she was just so cute and adorable.
She then suddenly jumped out the snow, and pounced on me, causing some snow to get thrown into the cave from what was on Mira's fur.
Mira caught me off guard with that, and got me to drop onto my back, with her on top of me.
I blushed, and looked up at her.
Mira had her head in my mane, and purred.
"Come join me in the snow." Mira said, and looked back at the snow outside.
I blushed some more, but chuckled softly.
"A-Alright then." I said.
Mira got off me, and padded back outside.
I got back up, and followed after her.
My paws touched fresh snow for the first time in years, and it definitely felt strange.
As I followed after Mira, I had the instinct to shake my paws clean, with every step I took, but I knew snow would get back on my paws, the second I took another step.
I could hear Mira purr, as she was surrounded by her main element.
She then dived into the snow again, and began to roll around in the snow, which looked very cute.
Her fur was covered with snow, and she looked at me all cute like.
I smiled at her, and dived into the snow just like her.
Mira giggled, and smiled at me rolling in the snow just like her.
My fur was covered in snow as well, just like Mira's fur.
"It's been a very long time, since I've been in the snow." I told Mira.
"Really?" Mira asked.
"Yea. The forest where I came from, was too warm for snow...Actually, rain rarely fell there, so yea." I explained.
"O-Oh...D-Did you miss snow? And other weather conditions?" Mira asked me.
"Well, normally a Flareon would say no...But I did miss variable weather conditions. Even if some are dangerous to me." I said honestly.
Mira smiled softly at me.
"W-Well, I'm happy that you get to experience these weather conditions again." Mira said.
I turned to look at her, and smiled warmly at her.
"Thank you Mira." I said.
We spent some time in the snow, and enjoyed the weather together.
Both of us had immunity to the cold weather.
My fluffy fur coat kept me warm, and outside my fur coat, my internal heat wasn't fazed by the cold weather.
Mira her fluffy fur also kept her warm, but that wasn't necessary, since she was an ice type, and enjoyed the cold.
I then felt how hungry I was, and turned to look at Mira.
...
Mira's POV
I saw Anshul turn to look at me.
I also turned toward him, wondering what he was thinking of.
While we looked at each other, I inched closer to him.
"T-Thanks for coming with me." I said to Anshul.
Anshul smiled at me.
"Anything for you, Mira." He said, which made me blush a bit.
I inched closer to him, to now be beside him.
As we looked at each other, I leaned in and kissed him on his cheek with a blush.
This made Anshul blush and flustered.
His blush was visible through his red fur.
Anshul then gave me a small kiss on my cheek, which made me blush as well.
We both blushed together, and ended up staying close to each other, for a little bit.
Anshul then tapped my side, which made me turn toward him.
"We should get some food. Since we haven't had breakfast yet." Anshul said.
I looked at the forest, and saw there weren't many bushes.
The chance that one of the few bushes had berries on them, was very low.
"I think we should get back to the cave then." I said, and looked back at the cave.
"Yea." Anshul said, and got up.
I got up as well, and followed after Anshul.
Once we got back to the cave, Anshul stopped me from entering.
"You can stay here. I'll get us some berries, so we can eat them out here." Anshul said.
My tail wagged from hearing Anshul's idea.
"O-Ok!" I said, with excitement.
Anshul went into our cave, and eventually came back with two apples, 4 Sitrus berries, Nanab berries and two Oran berries.
Anshul then gave me one of the apples, two Sitrus berries and the two Nanab berries.
"Enjoy." Anshul said, and began to eat the Oran berries.
I smiled, and sat beside Anshul, my fur touching his, as I began to eat the Nanab berries.
We were eating, and I was enjoying the feeling of snow being underneath my paws.
It made me feel happy, being on top of my main element.
As I ate my berries, I purred softly from happiness.
While Anshul was eating, one of his front paws slowly inched closer to one of my front paws.
It didn't take long, until his paw touched mine.
I grew a soft blush, when I felt Anshul's paw on top of mine.
Feeling his soft and fluffy paw there, made me feel safe.
"If you ever feel unsafe or nervous, just hold my paw, ok?" Anshul said.
I responded by giving him a nuzzle to his cheek, with a loud purr.
Anshul blushed softly, and smiled at me.
We then continued to eat our berries.
Soon after we finished our berries, we started to eat our apples.
I took small bites from the delicious apple, savoring the taste.
Anshul also began to eat his apple, and he also enjoyed the taste of it.
We were cuddled together, as we ate the apples.
...
Once we finished eating our apples, Anshul got up, and looked at me.
"I think I know something we could do." Anshul said.
"Oh? W-what would that be?" I asked.
"We could play tag. And maybe try to find a pond, to drink some water." Anshul said.
My tail wagged, when he said that.
"That s-sounds like so much fun!" I said, and smiled brightly.
I then realized something.
"W-Wait...Aren't you much faster than me?" I asked.
Anshul gave me a reassuring smile.
"I think we're even, when there's snow everywhere. It is your main element after all, I believe you know how to maneuver your way through it." Anshul said.
I grew a smile at him, as it did make sense what he said.
"Ok. Let's g-go." I said, and tapped his shoulder, and turned tail to run away.
Anshul chuckled, and began to run after me.
I tried my best to run as fast as possible.
Anshul was having trouble catching up to me, thanks to the snow beneath his paws.
He had to do something else to improvise.
I had built some distance in between us, or so I thought.
When I turned around, I saw Anshul hopping toward me, which was quite fast.
I squeaked, and began to run again, as I didn't expect Anshul to hop after me, and keep up with me by just hopping through the snow.
He reached me, and tagged me.
"Tag you're it!" Anshul said, and began to hop away.
I blushed softly, and began to run after Anshul.
Anshul stopped hopping, and instead ran away from me.
I ran after him, and slowly got closer to him.
He couldn't outrun me in the snow.
I then tagged his fluffy tail.
"Tag!" I said, and giggled.
Anshul tried to swipe me, to instantly tag me again, but I dodged his swipe, and ran away from him.
He then began to hop around again, and got close to me.
I then leaped into the air, and dug headfirst into a layer of snow.
My paws began to dig, as I was now fully under the snow.
Anshul had lost sight of me, as the snow was deep enough, to not notice any disturbances above the snow, as I dug around.
I peeked my head out above the snow, to see Anshul look around the place, and dig the snow where I first dug down.
A giggle escaped from my muzzle, and I swiftly dug down again, as two soft orange paws were placed on where I just was.
Once I got some distance from Anshul, I popped out the snow, and giggled again.
Anshul saw me from a distance, and began to run at me.
When he did, I began to run away again.
After a while of running, I began to slow down.
We both got pretty tired, from all the running.
Anshul then tackle hugged me, and we ended up in the snow together.
I giggled loudly from the fun we had, and panted a bit.
Anshul did the same, and looked at me.
He had a lot of snow in his fur.
"I never knew...that running in snow...was so difficult..." Anshul said between pants.
I giggled at him.
"For s-some mons it can be p-pretty difficult." I said.
"Yea, most pokemon aren't as graceful as a Glaceon." Anshul said.
A blush grew on my face.
I rolled over to Anshul, rolled on top of him, and clung to his fluffy fur.
Purrs came from me, as I rested my head in the most comfy pillow imaginable.
Anshul chuckled softly, and rubbed the back of my head.
"You're the most adorable mon, I've ever met." Anshul said.
I blushed again, and looked up at him again.
"A-And y-you're the b-bravest mon, I've ever met." I said.
Anshul now blushed, and leaned in to kiss the top of my head.
This made me blush a lot, but I then kissed him on the lips gently.
He blushed deeply from this, and looked to the side from embarrassment.
I gave a happy squeak, and hugged Anshul happily.
Anshul gave some happy purrs as well, which made me very happy.
His fur was so comfy to lay in.
Anshul looked around the area we were in.
"Oh, Mira look. A lake!" Anshul said.
I turned to see a lake, just like Anshul said.
We both got up, and approached the lake.
Not soon after getting to the lake, we saw it was frozen.
"Hmm...We need to get through this, to drink some water." Anshul said, and placed his paw on the ice.
He put some weight on his paw, to check how stable the ice was.
The weight he put on, didn't break, or shatter the ice.
I then checked the ice.
"I can r-reinforce it, so we can skate on it, I-if you want." I said.
Anshul turned to me with a bright smile on his face.
"That would be awesome!" Anshul said, energetically.
He then turned toward the lake again, and used ember to melt a spot in the ice.
"Now we can drink some water first." Anshul said, and dipped down to start drinking from the water.
I smiled at Anshul, and went to drink some water beside him.
We both lapped at the water, until we were no longer thirsty.
Anshul sighed in relief.
"Ahh, nothing like fresh water to deal with thirst." Anshul said.
I smiled at Anshul and agreed with him.
We both looked at the lake, before I used ice beam on the lake, to increase its strength.
The ice was now a lot tougher, and less likely to break, when we got on it.
Both of us stepped onto the ice.
I had no trouble standing on the ice.
Anshul however, had a hard time standing on the ice, because of how slippery it was.
I helped him stand on the ice, by supporting him.
He stopped moving, when I let him lean on me.
"Try to evenly spread your weight over your paws." I said, and let him try.
Anshul did just that, and managed to stay still on the ice, without falling.
"Ok, now try to slide your paws across the ice like this." I said, and began to show how to skate on ice.
I showed him the motion he had to do to skate around.
Anshul tried to replicate it, but he was having a bit of trouble.
I helped him, and showed him what to do to improve.
He eventually got it down, and began to skate around slowly.
"Alright, now to speed up, I advise you to do a running start on normal ground, and then slide onto the ice." I instructed him.
We both went off the lake.
I then ran at the lake, and jumped onto it.
My momentum made me skate on the ice.
While this happened, I controlled my balance, and slid a fair distance.
Anshul tried to do the same, but he fell down halfway.
We tried again, and he showed improvement.
The two of us just practiced our ice skating, until Anshul improved enough to be able to skate on his own, and change direction.
We had tons of fun while doing so, and we ended up playing together for a while.
...
Ciana's POV
I was awake, and eating some berries.
Blake and Amber were already up, while Clyde took a bit longer to awaken.
Amber looked at Clyde with a tired expression.
"How could a mon sleep this much..." Amber questioned, as she looked at her boyfriend.
I giggled softly, as I looked at the two.
Blake was beside me, and wasn't really doing much, just staring at the wall, as he ate a few berries as well for breakfast.
I turned toward him, and my ribbons moved around like usual.
"Is something going on, Blake?" I asked.
Blake turned toward me, and shrugged.
"...Meh...Nothing more than usual..." He answered.
"How did you sleep?" I asked.
"...Alright..." He answered.
"No nightmares?" I questioned, and raised my eyebrow.
Blake shook his head, and took another bite from a berry.
"How about your physical condition?" I asked.
Blake stayed silent about that.
"Blake?" I asked.
He didn't say anything.
"Blake." I repeated.
Once again, he stayed silent.
I got in front of him, and made him face me.
"Blake." I once again said.
He gave a sight.
"...My legs are often aching...Don't know why..." Blake said.
"How long has this been going on?" I asked.
"...Since we've been traveling so much..." Blake said.
I turned to look at Amber.
"Amber, did you hear that?" I asked.
Amber nodded at me.
"You're not used to traveling much, right?" Amber asked.
Blake shook his head.
"...I'm not used to traveling around as much as we've been doing...My legs are taking a beating because of it..." Blake said.
"Hmm. Are your legs just sore?" Amber asked.
"...No...This is something else...They hurt when I pad...even after waking up, they still hurt..." Blake said.
"It's not soreness then. Maybe...uhh." Amber was having difficulties trying to know what or why Blake's legs hurt.
"Is it because of how long you were in those shackles, back at the castle?" I asked.
"...That has been years ago...surely it wouldn't start hurting me now..." Blake said.
"That's actually possible. It could have damaged your legs in a way, that caused them to wear down over time. Maybe they're showing that now." Amber said.
Blake looked at me.
"...What should I do..." Blake asked.
Amber got up, and approached Blake.
She then began to use Aromatherapy on Blake's legs.
Blake tilted his head, and wondered if that worked.
"You should have told us sooner, Blake." I said.
"...I know...I just don't want to be a bother to anymon..." Blake said.
"Don't worry about that. You do plenty of stuff for us, so this isn't even an inconvenience. And it's not like we can do anything else at the moment. And even if we had other things to do. I'd prioritize my friends above anything." Amber said.
Blake smiled softly.
"...Thank you..." He said.
Amber dipped her head, and her Aromatherapy stopped.
"Ciana, could you perhaps use your ribbons to massage Blake's legs? I think that should help even more." Amber said.
I smiled, and nodded my head.
"Anything to help." I said, and my ribbons instantly began to rub and massage Blake's legs.
Clyde then let out a yawn.
He slowly raised up, and looked around in a sleepy way.
"Uhhh....where are we?" Clyde asked, as he was a bit confused.
"Not in dreamland, that's for sure." Amber said, and approached her boyfriend.
She laid down beside him, and snuggled him a bit.
"Good morning. I bet you slept well, didn't you." Amber asked.
"Ye..." Clyde said, and nodded his head, as he was still a bit drowsy.
Amber smiled, and patted the top of his head.
"What did you dream about?" Amber asked.
Clyde smiled, and stretched himself out.
"I dreamt about a tropical beach, where I took a swim." Clyde said.
Both me and Blake made eye contact, and looked outside the cave.
The snow was visible from where we were.
"So pretty much the opposite than the situation we're in now." I said, and continued to massage Blake's legs.
Clyde turned to me, and nodded.
"Yes." He said.
"I see you don't like winter so much then." I said.
"Yea. Me and Amber usually like the summer, while Mira likes the winter, for obvious reasons." Clyde said.
"Oh, so that's probably where she is." I stated, as Mira wasn't here at the moment.
"Anshul and her both, Ciana." Amber then stated, as Anshul wasn't here either.
"...I assume they're having fun in the snow..." Blake said, as I continued to massage his paws and legs.
"I know Mira. I can guarantee that they're out in the snow." Amber said.
Clyde chuckled softly, and looked at Amber.
"Remember when we also went out on adventures together?" Clyde said.
"Of course I do Clyde. " Amber said, and giggled softly.
Clyde chuckled as well.
"Remember when there was that big party in the village, and we had to bring some food over to the party?" Amber said.
"Oh yea, I remember that. We went there so you could get some inspiration for your cooking." Clyde said, and chuckled.
"What? That's not true...Or...Not entirely true anyway." Amber said, and looked away to avoid eye contact.
Clyde looked at Amber and chuckled softly.
"You wanted to steal a salad, so you could see what gave it its delicious taste." Clyde said.
Amber blushed a small bit.
"S-So...Nothing wrong with being curious, right?" Amber said.
"After they didn't let you take it with you, you followed the mon that made that salad around, after the day was over. That's how much you wanted to know what type of greens she used." Clyde recalled.
Amber blushed some more.
"Look, the greens she used had something about them that wasn't right. My salads were always the best, until she made hers. I'm convinced she did something with those greens to make them taste better." Amber said.
"So you had to follow her for that?" Clyde said.
Amber sighed and blushed a bit more.
"N-No...But I did wanted to know what greens she used." Amber said.
Clyde chuckled.
"Oh that party brings me back." Clyde said.
"Hmm? What more do you remember?" Amber asked.
"The honey incident." Clyde said, and had a face of disapproval.
Amber blushed a bit more. "Oh yea...That." Amber said.
Both me and Blake looked at each other.
"What happened?" I asked curiously.
"Well, Amber wanted honey. But not just any honey, no she wanted the freshest honey possible. So, she spend half a day begging me to come with her. Once I finally said yes, she dragged me with her, to a Combee nest. All sounds pretty innocent so far. She wanted me to go into the nest, and get at least three jars of honey from inside. So, I went inside, thinking this wouldn't be too difficult. Right as I scooped up three jars of honey, I heard a loud buzzing sound. I turned around, and saw a massive Vespiquen came flying at me. I had to run, cause it was obviously pretty upset. I was forced to use Aqua jet to get out of there. Before I got out of there, the Vespiquen bit me, and got me a nasty infection...But in the end, I did get Amber's honey." Clyde said.
Amber blushed, and sighed softly.
"Hey. At least the honey made us able to get you an antidote." Amber said.
Clyde huffed at her, and tickled her sides a bit.
"I wouldn't have been in that situation, if you didn't send me in there dear!" Clyde said, and tickle attacked Amber for a bit.
He continued this, until Amber grew her vines, and they headed for his sides.
"Ok ok! I'll stop." Clyde said, as he saw the vines, and instantly stopped.
Amber made the vines disappear, as she giggled softly.
"Oh yea, do you remember the golden apple?" Amber questioned Clyde.
"Don't even start it. We've searched for this so called golden apple for weeks. Considered more rare than a Lum berry. They supposedly grow on perfect apple trees. We can tell from experience, since we've never found one, it's one big hoax." Clyde said.
I couldn't hold my giggle, as Clyde vaguely stated something about a golden apple.
"Golden apple?" I questioned between giggles.
"Yea. We heard somemon talk about this very delicious apple, with a sparkling glow or something to it. It's supposed to be the highest growing apple on the tree, and it has to have grown for the perfect amount of time. Well, we deemed it not true, since we searched for 3 weeks for an apple like that, but we never found it." Amber said.
"Oh, so it wasn't actually a golden apple?" I asked.
"No. it was a tasteful apple, that made any dish made with it extremely juicy and tasteful. It just got the nickname, golden apple, cause of how delicious is." Amber explained.
"Oh, well that makes more sense." I said.
"Indeed. Besides the so called golden apple increasing any dish's tastefulness by a lot, there were also rumors of some herbs increasing a dish's tastefulness, so me and Clyde put these rumors up to the test." Amber said, and turned to Clyde.
"We came with the conclusion, that some herbs, much like berries, have a certain flavors. So adding them to the right dish will make them more delicious. It's a bit difficult to figure out which herbs are for the right dish, but me and Amber have figured out that it also depends what the mons like and dislike. Just like with berries, Some mons that like spicy berries more than other berries, would of course like spicy herbs more than other ones." Clyde explained.
"So basically, you can either add spicy herbs to a dish with spicy berries, to make it even more spicy. Or you can use variable herbs to mix things up, or you can even balance things out." Amber said.
"Ahh, that's pretty interesting. I assume that once we get a place to settle, you Amber will start a restaurant or something?" I asked, as I was pretty curious.
"Well, I've always liked cooking, so that's a possibility. I've always loved growing berries myself in my own garden. But then again, I also want to treat pokemon which need medical help." Amber said.
"It's difficult to choose a profession. I understand that. I also couldn't chose if you asked me." I said.
"...Being a guard isn't difficult...Or a commander..." Blake then said, as he turned to look at Clyde.
"I'd assume you teach other mons how to use moves they don't know." Clyde said.
"...That sounds like something Anshul would do..." Blake then stated.
Clyde began to think.
"Yea you do have a point...But Anshul can do a whole lot of things. He can train other mons, help them learn moves, and heal them up from injuries." Clyde said.
"...I wonder what Anshul wants to become later..." Blake said.
"Yea. Anyway, I'd like to be a guard, since I didn't mind being one in the first village. Or like learn other mons how to battle." Clyde said.
"So like battle training and stuff?" Amber asked.
"Yea, exactly." Clyde said, and smiled.
"Hmm. I wonder what Anshul and Mira are doing currently." I said out loud.
"They're having fun in the snow. Probably playing all types of games." Amber said.
"I hope they don't run into any trouble." I then stated.
"I'm sure Anshul won't allow that. Those water types have to know and understand, that this isn't the weather to hunt after mons for no reason." Clyde said.
"So they're all the way here, multiple forests away from their home, chasing 4 mons to take revenge on them." Amber said, as her ears moved down.
"Yea, I mean, their dedication and loyalty is great and all. But they're better off doing something else, and putting their dedication into something more meaningful, and more important." Clyde added, and wrapped a paw around Amber, and rubbed her shoulder.
At that moment, Anshul and Mira padded back into the cave.
Anshul was wet from dried up snow, and Mira still had some leftover snow in her fur coat.
Mira and Anshul instantly sat down near the campfire together, as they began to warm up again.
"Sooo...Where have you two been?" Amber asked curiously.
Anshul chuckled softly.
"First off. I didn't know that playing in the snow was so much fun." Anshul said with a childlike glee on his face.
Amber and Mira couldn't help but giggle at his response and facial expression.
"Alright, well me and Mira went out and explored a bit. Not all that much, but we just messed around a bit in the snow. After that, I learned a new strategy to move fast in snow. With that new knowledge, we played tag for a bit, which was very fun, since we were about even speed. After playing tag, me and Mira found a lake which was frozen. We had a fresh ice cold drink from the water, before freezing it solid to try and skate on it. Mira taught me how to skate on ice, which I think might be helpful in the future. Afterwards, we decided to do some hide and seek. Mira had some very good spots, And ended up winning by hiding in a pile of snow. I tried the same strategy once, but my fluff was too much to hide. And besides, my pawprints were very much visible in the snow. It was a lot of fun to try and find Mira in her main element. After that, we went to sit on a tree, and overlooked the snow covered forest and ground. Seeing icicles and a layer of ice on everything looks very beautiful. I'm very happy I got to experience this with Mira." Anshul said, and wrapped a paw around Mira with a very happy smile.
Mira smiled as well, and placed her head on Anshul's shoulder with a very happy expression.
Amber looked at Clyde, and I looked at Blake.
Clyde turned back at the two, and smiled.
"I'm glad you two had such a great time." He said.
Mira just softly purred into Anshul's shoulder, as she enjoyed his fluffy fur.
"Indeed, I'm surprised how much fun it is in the snow." Anshul said.
"Well, we'll eventually have to travel through the snow again. And it happens every year, so you're in luck." Amber said and smiled.
"Great! Let's hope the snow won't be annoying when we're traveling around." Anshul then said, and his tail swayed a bit.
"I'm sure it won't be so much of a problem." I said.
"Well, besides that we need to watch out for our paws, I'd still advice eating a piece of Tamato or Razz berry, to stay warm and not become too cold while traveling." Anshul then said.
"Very true. But when will we have to travel? I mean, I think we can stay here for a little." Amber said.
"Yea, maybe it's smart we stay low for some time." Anshul then said, and rubbed his head against Mira's head.
Mira gave some soft purrs, as she enjoyed the comfy feeling Anshul gave her.
The peace and quiet was suddenly disturbed however.
A familiar whistle sounded from outside the cave, and the source of the noise was quickly discovered to be the Lycanroc we met yesterday.
Katie pulled her hood down, and greeted us.
"Hello again, eeveelutions. I'm glad to see you all safe after yesterday's blizzard." Katie said, and scanned over us all with her blue eyes.
"Yea, we're ok. What brings you here, Katie?" Anshul asked, as he was curious.
"Well, you see, I have another bounty target. One that has been a thorn in the town's side for a while now. If we can get rid of him, I'd would be a huge favor for the inhabitants of the town." Katie said.
"So, you'd like our help again?" Anshul asked.
"Yes, I'd really appreciate if you all helped me take this mon down. It's a dangerous Machamp, that's known for destroying the surrounding area, just to prove its strength, and get stronger, by pushing its limits. It's also known for assaulting mons, to prove its stronger than them." Katie said.
"I see. Well what do you all think. Should we help Katie out?" Anshul then asked, and looked at everymon.
"I'm fine with helping." Amber said.
"Anything to help." I said.
"...At your command..." Blake said.
Mira looked at Anshul, and looked a bit worried.
"Don't worry. You'll be the last mon they'll harm." Anshul ensured Mira.
We all then looked at Clyde.
He didn't answer yet.
"Well...Sure." Clyde said, and nodded.
Amber looked at Clyde, wondering why he took so long to answer that question.
Katie smiled.
"Thank you all for assisting me once again." Katie said, and turned away toward the cave entrance.
"Well, before we go, everymon, take a piece of a razz berry." Anshul then said, and grabbed a Razz berry.
He split it in four, and pawed it over to Me, Clyde, Amber and Blake.
We all ate our piece.
I didn't really mind the taste.
Both Clyde and Amber however, didn't enjoy it all that much.
"T-That's a Razz berry? W-whats a Tamato berry then?" Clyde asked, as he was coughing a bit.
"Tamato berries can make you exhale flames, if grown correctly. But pokemon usually don't do that, unless they do it by accident." Anshul said.
"Uhh...Never do that to us please." Clyde said.
Anshul chuckled softly.
"Don't worry. It would be more painful than its worth." Anshul said, and turned to Katie. "We're ready to go." He then said.
Katie nodded at us, and began to lead the way.
...
As we followed Katie, we all talked with each other.
"Clyde, why did you hesitate when you answered Katie?" Anshul asked softly, so Katie didn't hear.
"I have bad history with Lycanroc's..." Clyde answered.
"We both Clyde, but you can't hold other lycanroc's responsible for what a pack did." Amber said.
"That doesn't mean I don't have to be cautious around them." Clyde then said.
He did have a point, and so, that conversation ended.
Anshul then padded back to Mira.
"Mira...I advise you stay away from this mon, once we find it. Hide in the snow like you did when we were playing hide and seek. Ok?" Anshul said to Mira.
Mira nodded at Anshul.
"P-Please be careful..." Mira said to Anshul.
Anshul smiled and patted Mira's head.
"I will Mira. Don't worry." Anshul said.
Their conversation then ended, and Anshul looked at Blake.
"I noticed Ciana rubbing your legs. Is something going on with your legs?" Anshul asked.
Blake looked up.
"...Yea my legs hurt after all this traveling around...Perhaps I've been pushing myself too much...something along those lines..." Blake stated.
"Well, then maybe you should have stayed back at the cave in that case." Anshul said.
"...No...Amber used Aromatherapy on my legs, and Ciana massaged them with her ribbons, and that seemed to help..." Blake said.
"Ok, well perhaps you should take it easy for this battle. Let me, Ciana, Amber and Clyde take care of this." Anshul said.
"...Fine...I'll hold my fire...But if something goes wrong, I'll give it all I got..." Blake said.
"Alright, deal." Anshul said.
We continued to follow after Katie.
"Anyone feeling cold?" Anshul asked.
Amber nodded her head
"I'm doing alright." She said.
"...I'm good..." Blake said.
"I'm warm enough to hold on." I answered.
"Yea, I'm ok." Clyde answered.
"Ok, if anyone of you feel cold, just give me a heads up, and I'll pass a piece of Razz berry." Anshul said.
Everyone nodded at Anshul.
...
We just followed Katie through the snow, as we wondered where the Machamp was.
"How do you know where this Machamp is?" Anshul asked Katie.
"The Town has scouts that locate targets down. They're very good at tracking down mons." Katie said.
"That's...pawy." Anshul said.
"Indeed. Let's hope the blizzard didn't get rid of their scent." Katie said, and continued to lead the way.
We all followed Katie.
...
Eventually, we got close to a small cave, with the entrance completely free of snow.
Katie sniffed the air, and turned to us.
"I'm pretty sure this is the Machamp's lair. " Katie stated.
"I'm actually sure of it." Anshul stated, and pawed at the many broken looking rocks around the place.
"Ah yes, that's definitely similar looking to the destruction it caused back in the town. Hold your position. I'll give it the option to surrender." Katie said, and approached the cave.
"...You're better off sneak attacking it...No mon surrenders nowadays..." Blake stated, but it was Katie's duty to give the mon that option, even if she knew they'd not surrender.
She headed into the cave, and saw the Machamp working out.
"By the order of the Chief! Stop right there! I hereby order you to surrender for the many crimes you've committed against our law!" Katie called out, as she stood her ground, and was ready for anything the Machamp would throw at her.
The Machamp turned towards Katie.
"Hahaha! Are they serious? They send a lone Lycanroc to stop me? You better turn tail and return with backup...You'd not even be a proper warmup." The Machamp said, and turned away from Katie.
"I won't ask again! Surrender now and come quietly, or leave with broken bones!" Katie growled at the Machamp, and took a defensive position.
The Machamp was now annoyed by Katie's presence. He shrugged.
"Alright then, It's going to be your end, not mine." The Machamp said, and then instantly threw a big rock at Katie.
Katie easily dodged the attack, and charged the Machamp with Accelerock, which got it to stumble.
It didn't expect Katie to land that hit the way she did, as it was specifically aimed to make him stumble.
He then rushed at her, with Cross Chop. A powerful, yet hard to land attack.
Katie took advantage of the Machamp's slow speed, and dodged backwards, then stomped down on the ground, which summoned a series of sharp pillars from below her, towards the Machamp.
The Machamp suffered from the impact to his legs, as Katie was specifically targeting them, probably to defeat it easier.
The Machamp grew irritated, and began to run after Katie, to try and land a super effective brick break.
Katie dodged backwards once again, and got out the cave's entrance.
She was now outside the cave, where we could all see her.
The Machamp then lunged out at her, and tried to hit her. She dodged again however, and stomped both her paws into the ground, to which three stone pillars appeared below the Machamp, and shot out into it. The Machamp got some air, as she hit him with Stone Edge, a move that Anshul hated.
The Machamp got back on its feet and became more annoyed.
"One hit is all it'll take to make you faint!" The machamp said, and rushed at Katie again, until it got hit by a powerful flamethrower attack from Anshul.
The Machamp was caught off guard from that, and glared angrily.
"This is what you brought as backup? Some weak eeveelutions?" The Machamp said, and became more angry.
Anshul then slammed his Iron tail down onto the Machamp's leg, which made it scream quite a bit.
"Gah! Damn you!" he called out, and dug his four arms deep into the solid rock ground.
He ripped some rocks out the ground, and threw them at Anshul at surprising speed.
This was Rock throw, which he used 4 times back to back.
Anshul didn't expect them to be that fast, and ended up getting hit twice because he had to get used to the speed.
After Anshul was forced to backup, the Machamp got back up, and rushed at Katie again, only to be stopped by Clyde, who used Aqua jet.
"Destroying property isn't allowed in a town." Clyde said, and used Hydro pump from up close.
The Machamp stumbled back a bit, but then tried to land a Cross chop on Clyde.
Amber didn't allow that, and used Leaf blade on the Machamp to stagger it.
The two eeveelutions then jumped back, as I then charged a Moonblast.
Right as the Machamp regained its ground, I shot a Moonblast at it, which was super effective.
The Machamp then slammed its arms down into the ground. Each arm send out an attack similar to what Katie just used.
It was Stone edge, and a pretty powerful one too, despite the power having been cut between four attacks, the attack did damage to whoever got hit.
Clyde, Amber and Anshul got hit, while I dodged, and shot a Shadow ball at the Machamp.
It got hit in the face, and now focused on me.
Katie then jumped the Machamp, and bit down on it with Thunder fang, which electrocuted the Machamp.
He screamed because of that, and knocked her off soon after.
As Katie landed, the Machamp landed a Cross chop on her, which hit her hard.
Anshul recovered from the Stone edge attack.
"Why does everymon under the sun know that move!" Anshul called out, and rushed toward the Machamp.
The Machamp saw him coming, and tried to hit him with Brick break.
Anshul dodged all four of its arms, and then slashed its leg with Slash.
The Machamp then grabbed Anshul with two hands, while the two other hands readied a Cross chop.
Anshul charged an Iron tail attack, and managed to hit the Machamp's chin, by striking him from below, by swinging his tail under him, which caused him to backflip out of its grip.
The Machamp stumbled back, and fixed its jaw, as it was now very angry.
It jumped at Anshul, and it seemed to be charging up a move.
Anshul seemingly recognized this, and jumped away, to avoid getting caught in said move.
Clyde and Amber recovered as well, and Amber used vine whip on the Machamp, while Clyde used Ice beam.
The Machamp got hit in the back, and then began to jump on the spot.
It progressively gained a little more height, as it jumped up and down.
Anshul was confused...until he realized.
"That's earthquake!" He said. His eye then widened.
"Mira! Get out the snow! NOW!" Anshul called out, and rushed toward the Machamp to do anything to stop him.
Mira heard his voice on time, and managed to get out the snow, before the Machamp slammed its fists down into the earth, which made a shockwave shoot out below ground, which made the area around him shoot up momentarily.
This attack hit everyone, and Anshul wasn't fast enough to stop it.
Luckily, Mira was protected by being surrounded by snow, which acted as a cushion for both when she was thrown up into the air, and landed back down in the snow.
The rest however, wasn't as lucky.
Anshul and Katie suffered the most from it, as It was super effective on them.
Blake got hit as well, which he didn't like at all.
Amber and Clyde got back to their paws, after panting a bit.
I levitated back onto my paws, and my ribbons began to levitate around as well.
"You ok Anshul!?" Clyde asked, as he glared at the Machamp.
Anshul got up, and looked back at where Mira was.
While she wasn't hurt much at all, it still didn't sit right with Anshul.
Katie got up as well, and was also not all that happy, as that happened.
Anshul rushed at the Machamp with an angry look on his face.
"Oh, well there goes their kneecaps." Clyde said nonchalantly.
Anshul swiftly reached the Machamp, right as the Machamp was about to punch Anshul, he caught both hands the Machamp wanted to punch him with.
Cocky that the Machamp would easily overpower Anshul with just two arms, it didn't bother to use its other two.
However, Anshul proved quite the opposite, as he managed to stop the Machamp in its tracks, and even began to push it back now.
The Machamp was caught off guard by this, and went to punch Anshul with its other two arms.
Anshul then shoved the two arms he held back, away from him, which caused the Machamp to stumble.
Once it got its balance back again, it then tried to slam all four arms down into Anshul.
Anshul however, took a few steps to the side, so the Machamp would miss, he predicted the Machamp to throw a blind attack.
He took advantage of this, and uppercut the Machamp, once its head lowered.
The Machamp was dazed because of that uppercut, and couldn't think straight.
Katie then slammed both paws down again, and like before, three stone pillars shot into the Machamp.
This made it fly up somewhat high.
Anshul used super power to jump pretty high, after the Machamp started to fall down again.
He used Flare blitz, and hit the Machamp mid-air.
The Machamp suffered all the damage, as it couldn't do anything.
Anshul landed on the ground, while the Machamp hit the ground with a loud thud.
Katie then barked up at the sky, which caused rocks to fall onto the Machamp.
This move was called Rock slide.
Only after the Machamp was mostly buried underneath all the rocks, did it faint and lose consciousness.
Anshul sighed, and instantly went to check on Mira.
"Are you ok?" He asked worriedly, and looked all over Mira for any injuries or wounds.
"I-I'm ok A-Anshul...The snow m-made my landing soft." Mira said, and blushed a small bit.
"Oh, thank Arceus." Anshul said, and hugged her softly.
Katie sighed in relief, as they got the Machamp.
"Thanks for the help. I'm afraid it wouldn't have been so easy, without all of you." Katie said.
"You're welcome." Anshul said, and stopped hugging Mira.
Katie managed to get the Machamp onto her back, though this wasn't easy, as the Machamp was very heavy.
"Oh lord....This Machamp...is so...Heavy..." She stated, as it was hard to carry with her.
Katie toughed it out, as she seemed stronger than she looked.
We all began to move back to the cave.
...
On the way there, Anshul was curious about something.
"Hey Katie. How has there been two bounties back to back." Anshul asked.
"It's because of the cold weather. Most pokemon stay in one place, when it's winter. That also counts for wanted pokemon, unless they're ice types." Katie explained.
"Oh, so that's why there has been two bounties." Anshul said.
"Kind of yea. We also like to safe certain mons for certain times. Our scouts decide when it's safe to go for a target. Since it completely depends on the target's location if it's safe to go or not." Katie explained.
"Ah, that's pretty interesting." Anshul said.
Katie nodded, and then remembered something.
"Oh yea. As soon as you get to the cave. Do not go out. There's another blizzard coming. Expect them the next few days." Katie said, and continued to carry the Machamp on her back.
"Alright, we'll keep that in mind, thanks for the heads up." Anshul thanked her.
"Not a problem." Katie then said.
...
We all eventually made it back to the cave.
Katie went back to the town, and both thanked us again, and waved as she left.
As we got back, we decided to treat some minor injuries with the help from Amber, Anshul and sometimes even me.
While we were in the cave for about an hour, the Blizzard picked up, and we couldn't see outside anymore.
Luckily, we had stockpiled enough resources, so it really wasn't a problem.
After treating our minor injuries, we decided to call it a day, since the blizzard made going out pretty much impossible.
We all ate some berries as dinner, and decided to go to bed.
Amber and Clyde shared a leaf bed, as well as Anshul and Mira.
I crawled close to Blake, and my ribbons wrapped around him in a comforting way.
We both fell asleep soon afterwards.
...
(To be continued)
(Hello everyone, this was chapter 33 of Shatter Me! My apologies for taking so darn long to finish it. I didn't intend to make the time between chapters so long. Lots of things happened that got in the way, or caught my interest away from Shatter Me, so sorry about that. This chapter was pretty difficult to write, since this and the next chapter are right before a more eventful part of the book starts. Besides that, I'm very surprised that I made it to 8000 words for this chapter, since I was 100% convinced I wouldn't make it. I hope the quality of this and next chapter won't be too different from the other chapters. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed chapter 33 nonetheless, and I'll hopefully see you all in the next chapter of Shatter Me! Have a glorious day, everyone! ^w^ )